In catching up with Karin's Incredible Summer of Reading, I
noticed this paragraph:
> It's a bit late to be reporting, but I did read Ride
the Pink Horse during
> Dorothy B. Hughes month. The main character, Sailor,
was a hard case.
> Although the story is told in the third person, the
narration is entirely
> in the words he would use. Any opinions here on the
"appropriation" of the
> male voice by a female writer? Just asking. I
thought it was pretty
> convincing. I also read almost half of The Davidian
Report, but didn't feel
> it was worth finishing. Somehow this story of
Communist spies in early
> 1950s Hollywood just wasn't that gripping. Nothing
much happened for pages.
I find this appropriation impressive and interesting too. Add
to the picture that she was being very much the mother,
writing in the kitchen while the little ones played in the
house. [Reminds me of Shirley Jackson's account of thinking
up "The Lottery" while pushing her child in a buggy or
stroller.] Hughes dropped the female protagonist from her
novels, I think, with The Fallen Sparrow--though let's note
that the male there is more memorable for his vulnerabilities
than his abilities. In fact, if you include uncontrollable
urges or behavior as vulnerabilities, then her four major
male protagonists (in Sparrow, Pink Horse, In a Lonely Place,
and Expendable Man) are all highly vulnerable. But her
earlier female characters seem bound by a formula "rule": no
matter how plucky, good women will always need the assistance
of a male to succeed. [Notice I said "good women," because
I'm not referring to femme fatale characters.] I speculate
that Hughes got tired of being limited by the stereotype of
the good woman, and went to vulnerable men
instead--protagonists who might or might not accept the
support of a good woman, and who could fail.
That's my speculation, anyway.
As to Davidian's being inferior, I agree completely. Reminds
me of her early stuff, with villains changed from fascists to
commies. As with Expendable Man
(which was more successful), she seems to have been
stimulated by Current Events. In A Lonely Place, possibly her
best, does a more convincing take on Hollywood--though the
novel is less "about" screenwriters than the film.
Bill Hagen
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